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View Full Version : Huge Milestone made by SpaceX - Reusable rocket design



lcam88
22nd December 2015, 19:51
Imagine if we had to dispose of aircrafts after crossing the Atlantic and purchase a new vehicle for the trip back?

That was the reality of rockets until SpaceX's mission late yesterday night. See the first stage land in the video below.


https://t.co/G0Yq2V5J3m

Dreamtimer
26th December 2015, 14:29
That's really something! Watching a rocket land. Glad they persevered.

lcam88
26th December 2015, 16:10
Yes!

It means they now have a "spent" booster intact that can be examined. They can compare their calculations from the drawing board with real life in terms of how anticipated stress points have held up. The Engines obviously being the obvious critical area.

A thorough analysis can yield other areas that can undergo weight savings too.

The other issue is to identify how much refurbishment is needed to get the booster into launch shape again.

Here is an interesting article worth sharing: http://lochief.com/2015/12/27/why-the-spacex-landing-is-better-than-apollo-11/

And here is SpaceXs take on reusability: http://www.spacex.com/reusability-key-making-human-life-multi-planetary

The space shuttle is the other note-worthy space vehicle that was reusable, but, refurbishing it was very costly, so much so indeed that actual savings ever materializing is a questionable subject.

I wonder if keeping the expense to enter space high is part of some global design...